BMW M5 with hybrid 726PS engine debuts at the Festival of Speed

It’s a hybridised monster that produces a Tarmac-dominating 726PS (534kW) and 1,001Nm (738lb ft) courtesy of a twin-turbocharged 4.4-litre V8 that spins to 7,200rpm, an electric motor stuffed between it and the eight-speed automatic gearbox. 

Performance isn’t just eye-opening, it’ll ram your eyeballs back into their sockets – 0-62mph takes 3.5 seconds and if you go for the Driver’s Package it maxes out at a top speed of 189mph. An adjustable sports exhaust handles the acoustics. 

The clever bit is that the M5 can do all this yet also trundle around on electric power alone, its 18.6kWh battery delivering a range of more than 40 miles between charges at speeds of up to 87mph. Meaning, it will cost buttons to run if you have a short commute, but can transform into a supercar slayer at the weekends. What’s not to like?

Well, there is the weight. At 2,400kg the new M5 is, by a fair margin the heaviest M5 ever built, an astonishing 500kg more than the old model – surely that will be felt in corners?

Perhaps. If BMW has shown us anything over the past few years it’s that it knows how to make heavy cars (think the M3, the M2) handle extremely well, so any worries that the new M5 will be BMW's version of the PHEV Mercedes C63 seem unfounded. 

Need more reassurance? Well, every part of the drivetrain has been upgraded next to the standard 5 Series. The front wheels have more negative camber and all four sit on wider tracks with uprated suspension hanging from beefier subframes. There’s electronically controlled dampers, an Active M Differential, rear-wheel steer, M Compound brakes, and optional M Carbon ceramic stoppers.

All this performance tech is hidden under one of the more tasteful looks to emanate from BMW M in recent years, with a body kit that will skim under the radar of the uninterested. For those in the know, though, this is most definitely an M5 signalled by its aggressive bumpers, bristling wheel arch extensions, side skirts, new M5 badging on the C pillar and, how could we forget, howitzer-sized quad exhausts. 

The interior is also a sportier take on the standard car with a flat-bottomed steering wheel, heavily bolstered sports seats, and an M-specific instrument display. 

On sale in November, the new M5 is priced from £110,500.